The U.S. legal industry lost 4,300 jobs in July following three prior months of job gains, according to preliminary data released Friday by the U.S. Department of Labor.

The Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics issued its monthly employment report on Friday, showing the decline in legal services sector, which employed a provisional total of 1,126,400 people in July. BLS also issued a slight revision to the legal services employment figures for June, adjusting that total down by 100 jobs compared with preliminary figures released in early July.

The employment numbers—which take account of lawyers, paralegals and legal secretaries, among other occupations—come after the legal industry experienced three straight months of job growth, beginning in April. Despite the declines shown in July's figures, the number of people working in the U.S. legal sector is still up by only 600 jobs since January.